My Opal displays "Entering Bootloader..." when undocked

This typically occurs if there is an issue updating the firmware. Please try the steps below, in order.

1) Retry the firmware update manually

Updating the firmware on your APDM hardware requires that the hardware is first placed into what is called the bootloader mode. If the firmware update is not started or does not complete correctly, your Opal may appear to be stuck in this mode. If you encounter this situation, follow these steps:

Dock the hardware and wait for 10-15s and make sure it has been detected on your computer. This will be true if the green LED on the docking station next to any Opals are illuminated, and that the green LED on the back left of the docking station is illuminated if you have an access point plugged in there. If this isn't true, make sure that the docking station is connected to your computer and that the green light on the front right of the docking station is illuminated.

This process should find the hardware that is stuck in the bootloader mode and complete the firmware update process.

If this does not work, the following steps should be tried:

2) Make sure the bootloader drivers are installed (Windows only)

During installation of your software on the Windows operating system, there are 5 sets of drivers that are installed. These cover both our v1 and v2 hardware, in addition to a driver that enables Windows to talk to v2 hardware when it is in bootloader mode. It is possible that not all drivers were installed at during this process (e.g., if one or more steps were skipped). Alternately, sometimes Windows does not load the correct driver unless the hardware is attached to your computer when the driver is installed. To re-install the drivers:

Make sure that any devices in bootloader mode are connected to your computer and detected by your computer (as described in 1.1 above)

Double click on the file named "dpinst.bat" and follow the steps to install the 5 drivers

Attempt the firmware update again

Note: On MacOS, no driver installation is necessary

3) Make sure the devices are being detected correctly (Windows only)

If the above steps still do not work, it should be confirmed that Windows is loading the correct driver for your devices that are in the bootloader mode.

Go to the start menu and type "Device Manager" in the search bar

Confirm that there is a top level entry with the name "APDM, Inc."

Confirm that the APDM devices you have attached to the computer and are in bootloader mode are listed under this category as "APDM V2 DFU Bootloader". This may be easiest if you remove any APDM hardware that is not in the bootloader mode. Here is a picture showing you what you should see:

If your devices will not enumerate correctly, and you get warnings similar to "Unable to start device" or "Unknown device" (either in the Device Manager tree or as pop-up warnings when you plug in the device), the following steps have helped in some cases:

Unplug any USB devices from your computer.

Open the Windows "Device Manager". You can access this by typing "Device Manager" in the search bar by the start menu.

Locate the section titled "Universal Serial Bus controllers". It is typically the last item on the list.

Within this section, look for entries that indicate "Host Controller" or "Root Hub". You should have at least one of each. For example, a Microsoft Surface 4 has the following two entries:

Intel(R) USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller - 1.0 (Microsoft)

USB Root Hub (USB 3.0)

For each of these entries, perform the following tasks:

Write down the name of the entry (like I did above) to include in an email response. This will help me track this issue for other users.

Right click on the entry and select the "Properties" option

Select the "Power Management" tab

Uncheck the "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" option.

Plug back in your devices, and see if our hardware now enumerates correctly (with a green light next to it on the Docking Station).

If this does not address your issue, you may want to undo any changes you made.

4) Reset the devices and try the firmware update again

If the steps above do not correct the issue, it is recommended that you bring the devices out of bootloader mode and try the firmware update again. The access point will reset when unplugged from the computer, but any Opals will have to be reset. To perform this operation:

Follow the instructions in the following knowledge base article for a "Hard Reset".

After the reset, try the firmware update again, as per step 1) at the top of this article.

5) Use alternate method for putting your device into the bootloader mode

If step 4) does not work, it is recommended to try an alternate method for putting the device into bootloader mode. To perform this operation: